Periodontics and Implant Dentistry of San Antonio’s oral surgeons are highly skilled and mastered surgeons when it comes to tissue and bone grafts. Depending on the severity of your periodontal disease, tissue and/or bone grafts may be necessary to correct the damaging effects of gum recession. Gum recession occurs when the tissue that surrounds the teeth begins to pull away from the tooth, exposing more of the tooth. This process can also lead to bone damage. Advanced gum disease affects 4% to 12% of adults and unfortunately often goes unnoticed until the problem is severe.

Types of Tissue Grafts Performed Include:

Connective Tissue Grafts: This method is most commonly used in the treatment of root exposure. Tissue is taken from underneath a flap of skin in the roof of your mouth that was surgically cut by your surgeon, and then grafted to the gum tissue surrounding the exposed root.

Free Gingival Grafts: This method also involves using tissue from the roof of your mouth, only there is no flap involved. Instead, a small amount of tissue is taken directly from the roof of your mouth and then grafted to the area being treated.

Pedicle Grafts: This procedure is entirely different than the other two procedures, in that instead of taking tissue from the roof of your mouth, the tissue is taken directly from the gum in the area of the tooth being repaired and treated. This procedure can only be performed on people with the least amount of gum loss.

Please note that tissue grafting material can also be obtained from a tissue bank, if the patient prefers.

Bone Grafting Facts:

Bone grafting is also known as bone augmentation.

Grafting is necessary to build up the jaw bone in order for it to support the dental implant and is necessary when tooth loss is caused by periodontal disease, infection, injury or trauma, or a developmental defect.

Common bone augmentation procedures include bone grafting, a sinus lift, a ridge expansion, and a less commonly performed procedure is called distraction osteogenesis.

Bone grafting has a high success rate. Bone grafts are not rejected by the body like with organ transplants, but there is a small chance that the graft can fail. A failed graft can be removed, but the chances of failure are slim.

This procedure can be done right within the comfort of the office and is typically performed under local anesthesia.

Bone grafting is a procedure that is typically performed when a patient has lost a tooth, in order to replace the lost tooth with a dental implant. The bone used for the grafting procedure can be removed from your own body or the oral surgeon can use bone made from human cadavers or cows.